​​​Moon


The moon is very interesting and here are some facts about it. The Moon is 384,400 kilometers or 238,860 miles from Earth. It is also a considerably small unit in the galaxy. The Moon is big but not in comparison to Earth. In fact it is only one fourth the size of Earth! Our Moon is only one of many Moons in our solar system. Neptune has six Moons, Jupiter has four moons, Uranus has fifteen , Mars has nine ,Saturn has twenty two, and Murcury and Venus have no Moons of its own. That makes the total amount of fifty seven Moons! Aristotle dicovered that the Earth was not flat because during an eclipse he saw that the shadow of Earth was round. Aristarchus also a greek ohislopher suggested that everything revolved around the Sun because of the time of the day.The Moon has been around since prehistoric times. it is the second brightest object in the sky after the sun. the moon has a job to do at night, it has to provide light since the sun has moved away.The Moon was named a goddes in the aztic civilitation, and the Sun was a god.The different phases of the Moon depend on its position in relation to the sun and Earth. As the Moon makes its way around the Earth, we see the bright parts of the Moon's surface at different angles. These are called "phases" of the Moon.there are also many names for the moon. for example the romans called it Luna while the greek called it selene and artimus.







external image FullMoon.jpg













The Moongravitational attraction is stronger on the side of the Earth nearest to the Moon and weaker on the other side. Since Earth, and particularly the oceans, is not perfectly rigid it is stretched out along the line toward the Moon. From our perspective on the Earth's surface we see two small bulges, one in the direction of the Moon and one opposite. The effect is much stronger in the ocean water than in the solid crust so the water bulges are higher, and because Earth rotates much faster than the Moon moves in its orbit, the bulges move around Earth about once a day giving two high tides in each day. The conclusion is that just like the sun has its job to give off sunlight, the moon has to give off moonlight.


the yearly phases of the moon








Phases of the moon as seen in the Northern Hemisphere
Phases of the moon as seen in the Northern Hemisphere







Phases of the moon as seen in the Southern Hemisphere
Phases of the moon as seen in the Southern Hemisphere